Information Request policy

Any request for recorded information held by the Council in any format will be treated as a request under information request legislation unless the information requested is of a personal nature, which may be handled under Subject Access Request legislations. Requests will be accepted from any individual or organisation.

Applicants are not required to mention the legislations when requesting information and do not need to submit the request to the official information request email account (freedom@welhat.gov.uk). Council staff are responsible for identifying these requests and forwarding them to the information governance team if they are not able to directly respond to the request or require guidance on information request handling.

All Freedom of Information requests must be submitted in writing. Correspondence, including emails and written letters, that provide all the necessary details to process an application will be accepted as valid requests.  Applicants do not have to explain the purpose of their request although it may be beneficial to obtain further information in order to fully process their request.

Environmental Information requests can be made verbally and be accepted. All written and verbal requests that provide the necessary details to process an application will be accepted as valid requests. Motivation does not need to be provided, but it may be useful in collating the information.

All Council Officers will follow the agreed procedures and these will be monitored by the Principal Governance Officer and Governance Services Manager.